If you’ve been following along my new plant blog journey, you know I like low maintenance plants. I especially like plants that don’t need to root before you can plant their cuttings.

Last week I showed how to prune Jade Plants, also known as Money Trees, and then how you can simply stick the cuttings in dirt (after they’ve scarred over a couple of days). You can even stick Jade leaves in dirt and they’ll grow.

Jade (Money Tree) leaves are easy to propagate

Jades have lots of company when it comes to easy propagation. Many varieties in the Dracaena family are the same way. Dracaena Marginatas, or Dragon Trees, for example, are super easy to propagate.

James, I think you’re right, horticulture is an intimidating word to many people. Plus, I’m not a horticulturist (as evidenced by the aforementioned thirsty Wandering Jew). Not crazy about planties (as in foodies) though – how about Plant Lovers?

My friend Travis asks me over about four times a year for maintenance on his enthusiastic plants. He has a couple of towering Euphorbias that needed pruning, his Bird of Paradise was so big it was falling out of its pot, and his yucca has scale (a really gross pest). Lots of work.

Look at his funny Bird of Paradise. I’m guessing it makes sitting on his couch a little on the nerveracking side.

Bird of Paradise

I pushed the stalks back, and added dirt to support the stalks from the front. Then I used a series of stakes to secure the plant. I used green velcro tape from Home Depot to tie the stakes together. Worked pretty well!

Stakes offer support

Those stakes shooting off to the sides are Travis’s fake flowers. He’s a regular riot.

Staked Bird of Paradise

I didn’t leave that velcro hanging out there, I cut it short. Up next, his Sansevieria, commonly known as Snake plant or Mother-in-law’s Tongue (because it’s so hard to kill). I’ll bet you recognize this one:

Sansevieria, Snake plant, Mother-in-law's Tongue

One reason I love Snake plants, besides their obvious sturdiness, is they make it so easy for you to care for them. See that leaf that’s fallen over out of the pot? I snipped it off like so:

Sansevieria propogation

Then I just stuck it in the dirt. It will grow. No messing around with getting roots to form in water. It’s instant gratification.

Snake plants don't need to root before you plant them

In the coming weeks, I’ll feature lots more plants (like Jades and Wandering Jews) that share this amazing rootless feature. Imagine – a leaf falls off, and you can just stick it back in the dirt.

Even the most amazing plants are susceptible to bugs. So gross. Spidermites, mealy bugs, scale – all are disgusting, and will eventually kill a plant left unattended. I have a super easy solution, that’s non-toxic as well.

Non-toxic pest control

That’s an empty spray bottle and plain ol’ rubbing alcohol from Target. Costs about a buck fifty. I poured half the bottle of alcohol into the spray bottle, added the same amount of water. Then I took Travis’s dish soap (I think he had Palmolive, but it doesn’t matter what brand) and added a few drops to the alcohol/water (50-50) mix.

Then I shook the sprayer. The alcohol will fry pests on plants. The plants don’t seem to mind the alcohol at all. The dish soap helps the alcohol stay on the leaves and also helps clean the plant at the same time! Win-win!

Here’s what gross scale looks like on Travis’s plant:

Bug-infested Yucca. Ew.

The alcohol/water/dish soap mix isn’t going to kill scale on the first try. I sprayed the whole plant and its stalks, but Travis will have to keep spraying the poor little guy, at least once a week for the next several weeks. The alcohol makes the apartment stinky for a few minutes, but that’s about it. We’ll check back in on this plant in the coming weeks.

Ok, on to the big project, his Euphorbias. They can get so big, especially if they’re vying for sunlight from skylights and high windows, both features of Travis’s apartment. Here’s the bungled mess his became before I pruned it.

Overgrown Euphorbia

Pruning is always tricky with Euphorbias. For one, they have a sticky white sap that will swell your eyes, irritate your skin and stain your clothes. Wash your hands often! Oh, and of course, let’s not forget the thorns!

I have these great old firefighter gloves someone gave me awhile back. They’re perfect for thorny plants like Euphorbias. You make the cut as close to the base as you can. Again, be careful of the sap!

How do you prune a Euphorbia? Very, very carefully.

Tongs work, too.

Tongs can be helpful when pruning Euphorbias

Pruning is a lot of work, but the plant needs it to be healthy. It’s the human equivalent of a haircut. This plant grew dreads in the few months since I last pruned it!

There are lots of cuttings leftover!

Euphorbia cuttings

Don’t worry, they won’t go to waste. Lots have already been given away, some will move to the cereal factory, and I just thought of an adorable gift idea for them. Check back this weekend, and I’ll post pictures of the gift project.

The key to the cuttings is to let the cut dry for a couple days, so it scars over the fresh wound. I just leave them on the newspaper (which is my transport system, by the way) and after a couple days, they’re ready to go straight into the dirt. No waiting for roots for this great plant, either. Do you sense a theme here? It’s not that I’m a lazy gardener…

Here’s what the plant looked like after the trim:

Happy Euphorbia

You see I could’ve cut it back even more, but this was a good trim. I don’t want to overwhelm the poor guy – I’m sure he’s quite attached to those limbs!

After the pruning, I rotated the plant 180 degrees so the back of him faced the light. That’s so he’ll stand up more straight on his own. Plants don’t like leaning toward the light in just one direction – you have to rotate them!

Now, here’s me happily taking my cuttings home:

One handy way to transport things with thorns

Well, you can’t see my face, but I am smiling!

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About Me

Hi! My name is Liza. Welcome to my blog and thanks for visiting! I'm a Midwestern gal now living in the beautiful Land of Enchantment, Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have a plant care business here in town called Good To Grow. I can beautify your home, office, or patio with plants and flowers. I have 13 years of experience growing plants, and friendships.

Plants are living, breathing creatures, and if they're indoor plants, they are 100% dependent on human care. They cannot water themselves.

Please let me know if you have questions or if you would like help with your plants or garden. You can reach me at lizatheplantlady (at) gmail (dot) com or follow me on Twitter, Lizawheeler7.

All photos are mine unless otherwise noted. All content is also entirely my hard work. If you'd like to use any content or photos, all you have to do is ask. If you take without asking, you are a thief. And thieves suck. So don't suck. We have a deal? Good.